Monte Carlo model of acoustic response from a bubble cloud
Abstract
In various sonar applications it is important to model the acoustic response of a bubble cloud to a sonar pulse of different types. In a typical approximate approach, a bubble cloud is modelled as a set of point scatterers. The purpose of this research is to analyse the accuracy and limitation of such a representation. For this, a high-fidelity Monte Carlo model of scattering of an acoustic pulse from a bubble cloud is developed. In this model a bubble cloud is represented by a set of individual bubbles randomly selected from a known bubble size and spa-tial distribution. The acoustic signals scattered from individual bubbles are coherently summed into a collective response from the bubble cloud. The building block of the model is the forced oscillations of an individual bubble in an acoustic field. In this research we use the state-of-the-art equation of bubble oscillation. We then consider the acoustic response of a bubble cloud to an acoustic pulse in single scattering approximation and compare it with the analytically calculated backscattering cross section per unit volume. A comparison of the results of the high-fidelity model with the representation of the bubble cloud by a set of discrete scatterers is conducted.